John MacLeod (right) coached the Suns from 1974-87.
The Phoenix Suns have had 22 head coaches in franchise history. Let’s highlight their top five all-time leaders in games coached.
MacLeod became the coach of the Suns at the start of the 1973-74 season. Over his first two seasons, the team went 62-102 with him at the helm. He turned things around for the 1975-76 season, winning the Western Conference title despite the team finishing with a modest 42-40 record. They would go on to lose to the Celtics in the NBA Finals. Over 14 seasons with the Suns, MacLeod compiled a regular-season record of 579-543. In the playoffs, he went 37-44.
The first head coaching opportunity that Fitzsimmons received in the NBA was to lead the Suns for the 1970-71 season. He coached the team for two seasons, winning at least 48 games in both campaigns. Fitzsimmons then became the coach of the Hawks for the 1972-73 season and would go on to also coach for the Kings and Spurs. Fitzsimmons then returned to the Suns to coach them for the final six seasons of his career. He won the Coach of the Year Award for the 1988-89 season with the Suns, posting a record of 55-27. During his two stints with the Suns, Fitzsimmons had a regular-season record of 341-208. He also went 22-22 in the playoffs.
D’Antoni served as head coach for five different teams during his coaching career. He took over the Suns during the 2003-04 season, going 21-40 over 61 games. The team took off the following season, posting a record of 62-20 that helped D’Antoni be named Coach of the Year. That began a streak of four straight seasons in which the team won at least 54 games. While D’Antoni had a regular-season record of 253-136 with the Suns, that didn’t translate to playoff success, going 26-25 in postseason.
Williams had his first head coaching opportunity with New Orleans in the 2010-11 season. He led the franchise for five seasons before stints as an assistant on the Thunder and 76ers. The Suns then named him their head coach for the 2019-20 season. The next season, the Suns went 51-21 and won the Western Conference. They eventually fell to the Bucks in the NBA Finals. Williams finished with a 194-155 regular-season record with the Suns. In the playoffs, he went 27-19.
Gentry first became an assistant coach in the NBA for the Spurs at the start of the 1988-89 season. He came to the Suns as an assistant for the 2004-05 season and eventually became their head coach in 2008-09. The team’s best performance with him as head coach came in 2009-10 when they went 54-28 during the regular season. Gentry finished with a regular-season record of 158-144 with the Suns. In the playoffs, he went 10-6.
